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PROFESSIONAL   ATMOSPHERE    AND    MORALS; 

OR 

PATENTS  AND   SECRETS  vs.  LIBERAL  PROFESSION. 


ADDRESS 


DKMVKKKD   BKFOUE 


®l)e  Hero  JDork  ©iontological  Socictij, 


March  19,  1889. 


NEW  YORK  ACADEMY  OF  MEDICINE, 


BY 

HORATIO  0.  MERIAM, 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY  DENTAL  SCU 

D.M.D., 

OOL. 

I 
1 

REPRINTED 

1889. 

PROFESSIONAL  ATMOSPHERE  AND  MORALS;  OR,  PATENTS 
AND  SECRETS  vs.  A  LIBERAL  PROFESSION. 


BY    HORATIO    C.    MERIAM,    D.M.D,,    HARVARD     UNIVERSITY    DENTAL    SCHOOL, 


(Address  delivered  before  the  Now  York  Odontological  Society  March  19, 1889,  and  reprinted  from  the 
Dental  Cosmos  for  June,  1889.) 


Mr.  President,  and  Fellow-Members  of  the  New  York  Odonto- 
logical Society  : 

It  is  natural  to  those  who  see  the  broad  right  of  way  that  the 
liberal  professions  have  held  through  literature,  science,  and  art,  to 
ask  the  source  of  that  right,  how  acquired  and  maintained. 

In  a  commencement  address  before  the  Dental  and  Medical  Schools 
of  Harvard,  in  Boston,  in  1871,  the  Eev.  Edward  Everett  Hale  gave 
the  difference  between  a  body  of  professional  men  and  a  body  of 
craftsmen.  He  held  that  every  diploma  given  in  a  liberal  profession 
contained  three  pledges  which  those  who  received  them  bound  them- 
selves to  maintain  by  accepting  :  a  pledge  to  learn  for  all ;  a  pledge 
to  practice  for  all ;  and  a  pledge  to  teach  freely  to  all.  These  three, 
— to  learn  for  all,  to  practice  for  all,  and  to  teach  for  all, — uniting  as 
they  do  past,  present,  and  future,  and  implying  freedom,  are  laid  as 
a  foundation,  whereby  we  may  test  the  claim  of  dentistry  to  be  a 
liberal  profession,  and  its  practice  that  of  a  specialty  of  medicine. 

I  do  not  propose  to  go  beyond  these  obligations  to-night. 

Dr.  Hale  has  not  given  authority  to  them,  but  whether  his  opinion 
or  that  of  others,  they  concern  us  as  a  statement  of  the  law  of  a 
liberal  profession,  the  observance  of  which  prolongs  and  strengthens 
its  life,  and  the  neglect  or  abandonment  of  which  would  be  followed 
by  professional  death.  The  obligation  to  learn  and  teach  brings  to 
the  front  the  position  of  doctor,  or  teacher. 

The  doctor's  position  has  always  depended  on  his  fidelity  as  a 
teacher.  Your  nostrum-vender,  or  maker  of  proprietary  articles  or 
medicines,  who  will  not  teach  the  making  or  their  formulas,  is  one 
who  disgraces  this  position  and  has  no  right  to  the  title.     So,  also, 


if  a  discoverer  or  inventor  in  a  liberal  profession  patents  the  require- 
ments of  his  profession,  making  them  his  exclusive  property,  and,  in 
the  language  of  the  Patent  Office,  secures  "  the  exclusive  right  to 
make,  vend,  and  use"  them,  he  violates  the  pledges  of  his  diploma, 
and  has  lost  his  claim  to  belong  to  a  liberal  profession. 

Mr.  Ruskin  asks,  in  one  of  his  essays,  why  it  is  that  the  clergy- 
man, the  lawyer,  the  physician,  the  army  or  navy  officer  receive 
more  honor  or  hold  a  higher  position  in  the  opinion  of  the  world 
than  does  the  merchant,  in  proportion  to  the  time  spent  in  acquiring 
the  essential  knowledge.  And  he  answers  it  by  saying  that  the 
world  has  wrongly  accepted  the  merchant  at  his  own  estimate,  that 
he  works  for  money  and  may  decide  without  loss  of  prestige  always 
in  favor  of  those  transactions  that  pay  him  best ;  whereas,  in  the 
professions,  the  world  recognizes  that  each  must  often  turn  from 
that  which  pays  best  to  that  which  is  the  most  dangerous  or  least 
profitable.  The  lawyer  may  become  a  judge,  and  must  refuse  bribes, 
or  to  sit  in  cases  in  which  he  has  a  personal  interest,  or  take  advan- 
tage of  knowledge,  in  a  pecuniary  way,  which  has  come  to  him 
while  hearing  cases.  The  clergyman  who  neglects  the  care  of  souls 
or  to  teach  truth  for  more  profitable  work,  or  who  preaches  error 
or  falsehood  if  it  pay  best ;  the  physician  who  would  not  face  con- 
tagion ;  the  army  or  navy  officer  who  would  not  risk  his  life,  or  who 
would  retire  on  the  eve  of  battle,  for  the  sake  of  money, — are  all 
without  honor. 

Agassiz,  in  his  will,  wrote  himself  "  Louis  Agassiz,  Teacher," 
selecting  this  title  in  preference  to  all  others.  While  conducting 
some  experiments  in  his  laboratory,  he  received  an  offer  of  a  large 
sum  from  the  West  for  a  course  of  lectures  on  natural  history.  He 
replied,  "  I  cannot  afford  to  waste  my  time  in  making  money."  This 
reply,  natural  to  him,  aroused  great  wonder,  and  Agassiz  wondered 
that  they  wondered.  He  knew  that  hundreds  of  men  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe  would  have  given  the  same  answer.  To  a 
business  man,  the  fact  that  a  scientist  was  too  busy  to  make  money 
was  a  revelation.  This  brought  the  fact  before  them,  and  gave 
science  in  America  a  position  and  stimulus  that  it  feels  to  this  day. 
From  that  time  on,  money  flowed  to  Agassiz  in  a  continuous  stream, 
and  he  who  afterwards  said  that  he  never  was  a  quarter  of  a  dollar 
ahead  in  his  life  and  never  expected  to  be,  found  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion to  call  for  money  as  often  as  he  needed  it  for  science,  and  it 
came.  He  made  the  title  of  teacher  almost  glorious,  and  left  a  name 
that  has  been  to  science  in  America  a  continual  benediction. 

"  This  wonderful  creature,"  as  an  admirer  describes  him,  called 
not  only  money  but  men  to  his  aid.  From  the  emperor  of  Brazil 
with  his  mountains,  to  the  farmer  and  laborer,  who  would  leave 


their  work  to  dig  for  him  a  specimen,  all  helped.  There  was  the 
personality  of  the  man,  to  be  sure,  added  to  science ;  but  the  sci- 
entific test  for  a  scientist  was  the  same  before  and  is  the  same  to-day. 
Fidelity  to  their  obligations  as  teachers. 

The  article  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle  called  "  The  Great  Lesson"  is 
of  interest  as  illustrating  this,  and  the  atmosphere  and  morals  of 
science,  the  integrity  of  its  teachers,  and  the  obligations  to  truth 
which  they  acknowledge. 

The  voyage  of  the  "  Beagle"  ended  in  1836,  during  which  Mr. 
Darwin  made  his  observations,  and  framed  his  theories  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  coral  reefs  and  islands.  More  than  thirty-five  years 
after,  the  "  Challenger"  expedition,  with  Mr.  John  Murray  as  nat- 
uralist, was  sent  out.  He  "  made  observations  and  drew  conclusions 
that  called  for  a  new  explanation."  (I  quote  from  the  duke's  paper.) 
"  This  was  communicated  to  the  Eoyal  Society  of  Edinburgh  in  1880> 
and  supported  by  such  a  weight  of  facts  and  such  a  close  texture  of 
reasoning  that  no  serious  reply  has  ever  been  attempted.  At  the 
same  time  the  reluctance  to  admit  such  an  error  in  the  greal  idol  of 
the  scientific  world,  the  necessity  of  suddenly  disbelieving  all  that 
had  been  believed  and  repeated  in  every  form  for  upwards  of  forty 
years,  of  canceling  what  had  been  taught  the  young  for  more  than 
a  whole  generation,  had  led  to  a  slow  and  sulky  acquiescence  rather 
than  to  that  joy  which  every  true  votary  of  science  ought  to  feel 
in  the  discovery  of  a  new  truth,  and  not  less  in  the  exposure  of  a 
long-accepted  error." 

The  charges  so  distinctly  made  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle  soon  re- 
ceived a  warm  repl}^.  It  was  held  he  had  charged  the  leading  scien- 
tists of  England  with  a  "  conspiracy  of  silence; "  that  they  were  so 
anxious  to  guard  the  memory  of  Darwin  and  to  preserve  his  theory 
that  they  had  refused  to  investigate  truth ;  in  other  words,  had 
formed  a  "Trust,"  or  what  we  now  know  as  a  "Combination,"  to 
exclude  all  competing  discoverers  and  prevent  by  silence  free  dis- 
cussion of  scientific  questions,  and  discourage  investigators,  and  by 
so  doing  they  were  guilty  of  conspiracy.  Professors  Huxley  and 
Bonney  replied  warmly,  the  former  not  only  to  the  duke  but  to  a 
preacher  whom  he  calls  "  Anonymous,"  and  said,  "  For,  not  content 
with  misrepresenting  science  on  its  speculative  side,  '  Anonymous' 
attacks  its  morality ;  thus :  '  For  two  whole  years  investigations  and 
conclusions  which  would  upset  the  theories  of  Darwin  on  the  forma- 
tion of  coral  islands  were  actually  suppressed,  and  that  by  the  advice 
of  those  who  accepted  them,  for  fear  of  upsetting  the  faith  and  dis- 
turbing the  judgment  formed  by  the  multitude  on  the  scientific 
character,  the  infallibility  of  the  great  master.     .     .     . '  " 

Prof  Huxley  denies  the  truth  of  this,  and  says,  "  The  charge  thus 


brought  by  '  Anonj^mous '  affects  the  honor  and  the  probity  of  men 
of  science;  if  it  is  true,  we  have  forfeited  all  claim  to  the  confidence 
of  the  general  public." 

Prof  Bonney  was  not  less  decided,  and  says,  after  quoting  the 
duke's  article, — 

"  This  is  plain  speaking.  In  words  that  admit  of  no  ambiguity 
the  duke  declares  that  Darwin  was  wrong ;  that  Mr.  Murray  set  him 
right ;  and  that  the  latter,  instead  of  receiving  a  welcome,  was  met 
with  a  virtual  conspiracy  of  silence  on  the  part  of  scientific  men.'' 
He  denies  the  first  two,  and  says, — 

"  .  .  .  .  We  come  then  to  the  third  charge,  which  is  the 
most  serious  one,  because  it  affects  the  morality  of  scientific  men ; 
and  many  of  them,  like  myself,  are  old-fashioned  enough  to  resent 
being  called  a  knave  more  than  being  called  a  fool.  Has  Mr.  Murray 
been  met  by  a  conspiracy  of  silence?"  He  denies  this  also  and 
shows  that  it  cannot  be  true,  and  adds,  "Men  of  science  are  justly 
sensitive  on  this  question.  Doubtless  they  are  not  more  exempt 
from  human  frailty  than  any  other  class  of  men ;  we  all  fail  some- 
times, nay,  too  often,  to  live  up  to  our  ideal  standard;  still  such 
shortcomings  are  not  common,  and  anything  like  a  '  conspiracy 
of  silence'  or  any  kind  of  scientific  boycotting  is  a  thing  so  improb- 
able as  to  be  almost  incredible." 

This,  then,  of  the  scientific  men  of  the  day.  You  may  reply  that 
these  are  questions  of  pure  science,  or  not  connected  with  medical 
practice  or  its  temptations.  True;  but  physicians  would  claim  to 
be  actuated  by  scientific  motives,  and  be  governed  by  the  same 
liberal  principles,  be  under  the  same  moral  obligations,  and  wish  to 
rank  among  those  who  are  bidden  by  their  diplomas  "  to  own  no 
master  but  Truth." 

Let  us  turn  to  law.  "I  hold,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "every  man  a 
debtor  to  his  profession  from  the  which  as  men  do  seek  to  receive 
countenance  and  profit,  so  ought  they  of  duty  to  endeavor  them- 
selves by  way  of  amends,  to  be  a  help  and  ornament  thereunto. 
This  is  performed  in  some  degree  by  the  honest  and  liberal  practice 
of  a  profession  when  men  shall  carry  a  respect  not  to  descend  into 
any  course  that  is  corrupt  and  unworthy  thereof,  and  preserve  them- 
selves free  from  the  abuses  wherewith  the  same  profession  is  noted 
to  be  infected ;  but  much  more  is  this  performed  if  a  man  be  able  to 
visit  and  strengthen  the  roots  and  foundations  of  the  science  itself, 
thereby  not  only  gracing  it  in  reputation  and  dignity,  but  also 
amplifying  it  in  perfection  and  substance." 

Here  again  is  the  obligation  to  serve  their  profession  recognized 
as  binding  on  its  members.  And  it  is  a  position,  "  as  one  sees  the 
long  line  of  scholars,  poets,  and  sages,  and  reads  of  the  college 


cloisters  and  quadrangles  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  whose  very 
stones  seem  happier  for  being  there,"  to  desire  tiiat  our  profession 
should  take  its  place  among  them,  and  say,  "  These  are  for  us  too." 
So  we  all  felt  a  great  pride  when  dentistry  was  admitted  to  univer- 
sities, and  dental  schools  established.  Now  we  wish  for  such  advance 
in  liberality  that  they  shall  not  be  training-schools  where  the  useful 
and  needful  only  are  taught,  but  where  dentistiy  is  taught  as  a 
liberal,  free,  and  learned  profession;  and  rightfully  hope  that  the 
universities  will  raise  the  teaching  of  dentistry  to  the  university 
standard,  and  not  lower  the  university  standard  so  that  graduates 
in  dentistry  cannot  claim  to  be  the  equals  in  liberality  with  those 
of  divinity,  law,  and  medicine. 

Who  would  have  expected  that  Dr.  Eollins,  one  of  the  brightest 
men  who  has  been  graduated  from  the  dental  school  at  Harvard, 
could  have  written  what  I  shall  presently  quote,  and  still  less  that  it 
should  have  passed  uncontradicted  by  any  dental  school  or  society 
in  America? 

"  So  long,"  he  writes,  "  as  members  of  the  profession  who  patent 
their  inventions  and  make  money  on  them  are  honored  to  the 
highest  extent  in  our  power  by  being  asked  to  be  leaders  in  our 
schools  and  before  societies,  so  long  will  dentistry  remain  a  trade, 
and  I  for  one  shall  be  ashamed  to  use  my  dental  degree." 

Is  not  dentistry  in  a  position  to  resent  this?  Eesent  it  if  we  please  ; 
still,  like  unsettled  questions  which  have  no  respect  for  the  repose 
of  nations,  it  will  not  down  if  true. 

A  leading  American  practitioner  writes  me,  "  We  are  fast  becoming 
a  mere  tender  to  a  trade  association,  and  about  all  the  liberty  there 
is  left  us  is  the  right  to  buy  goods." 

Is  dentistry,  then,  in  a  diiferent  position  from  that  of  other  pro- 
fessions that  claim  to  be  liberal?  There  are,  of  course,  those  who 
have  taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  as  covering  the 
whole,  and  who  do  not  care  for  a  partial  degree  in  medicine  or  sur- 
gery ;  others  find  that  the  recognition  of  the  dental  degree  by  the 
American  Medical  Association  is  all  that  is  needed  ;  but  these  leave 
the  point  untouched.  Has  the  dental  profession  of  to-day  the 
morals  and  atmosphere  that  entitle  her  to  be  called  a  liberal,  free, 
learned,  or  scientific  profession,  and  to  rank  with  divinity,  law,  and 
medicine? 

It  will  not  do  to  trust  to  medical  degrees  to  entitle  dentistry  to 
this  position,  for  they  may  be  obtained  for  use  as  a  pass-word  or  for 
patronage  or  influence ;  and  a  medical  degree,  or  education,  or  mem- 
bership in  the  American  Medical  Association,  intended  strictly  for 
publication  and  not  as  a  guarantee  of  faithful  assumption  of  the 
liberal  obligations  they  have  always  implied,  will  not  avail  much  for 
the  elevation  of  the  profession. 


6 

There  are  some  who  quote  the  irregular  practices  of  oflF-color 
physicians  as  affording  a  shield  for  themselves,  and  a  hope  that  the 
American  Medical  Association  will  not  look  too  closely  into  dental 
exclusiveness.  To  be  of  real  value  to  dentistry,  the  recognition  of 
it  must  call  on  us  to  leave  quack  ways  and  methods  behind.  We 
are  not  ambitious  to  rank  with  off-color  physicians,  or  to  make  by 
reason  of  patents  and  secrets  an  off-color  section  in  the  association. 
We  do  not  want  it  to  shut  its  eyes  to  violations  of  the  code  to  admit 
us,  and  thus  step  backward.  Let  them  provide  that  all  papers, 
clinics,  and  exhibitions  given  be  up  to  the  standard  of  the  other 
sections,  or  else  their  recognition  of  dentistry  will  be  a  curse  and 
not  a  blessing. 

Since,  then,  we  are  to  go  behind  the  degree  to  the  teaching,  from 
the  title  to  the  doing,  we  ask,  is  dentistry,  with  all  its  titles  and  de- 
grees, in  a  different  position  from  the  professions  that  rank  as  liberal  ? 

The  student  of  divinit}^  must  satisfy  the  denomination  which  he 
elects  of  his  fitness,  comply  with  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  so  long 
as  he  conforms  with  its  tenets  need  not  fear  that  one  of  his  brothers 
will  invent  a  scheme  of  salvation  which  he  will  sell  to  a  company 
which  will  charge  him  for  its  use,  or  will  keep  to  himself  the  "  ex- 
clusive right  to  make,  vend,  or  use"  it ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  may 
look  forward  to  the  day  when  some  university  or  seat  of  learning 
shall  give  him,  as  among  its  highest  honors,  the  title  of  Doctor, — 
Teacher  of  Divinity. 

The  student  in  law  must  pass  his  examinations,  comply  with  the 
laws  of  the  State  and  the  rules  established  by  his  profession,  and 
maj"  then  be  free  to  serve  his  clients,  and  may  avail  himself  of  all 
the  past  and  present  experience  of  others  without  let  or  hindrance, 
and  need  not  ask  consent  of  a  fellow-member  to  improve  a  process 
or  serve  one,  for  no  one  of  them  has  by  patent  the  power  to  prevent 
him,  or  is  the  owner  of  a  secret  (legal)  remedy. 

The  student  in  medicine  must  reach  the  educational  standard  of 
his  school,  comply  with  the  statutes  of  the  State  regulating  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  he  is  free  also  within  these  limits.  He  may 
have  made  or  may  improve  instruments  without  asking  permission 
of  his  fellows ;  may  perform  operations  without  obtaining  a  license 
from  a  company,  or  leave  from  another.  He  may  ask  the  formula  of 
any  medicine  that  claims  to  be  scientific,  call  for  aid  in  consultation 
whenever  needed  ;  call  for  information,  as  a  right  expect  a  reply 
giving  it, — all  by  reason  of  being  a  liberal,  or  member  of  a  liberal 
profession.  He  may  be  sure  that  he  is  at  liberty  to  perform  any 
operation  he  has  seen  done  at  a  hospital  clinic  without  fear  of  subse- 
quent litigation ;  may  order  instruments  without  fear  that  litigation 
will  prevent  their  delivery. 


Now,  is  the  dental  profession  as  free  or  as  liberal?  For  years  we 
were  under  the  rule  of  a  Eubber  Company,  the  last  part  of  the  time 
through  the  purchase  of  a  patent  from  a  dentist.  The  present  Tooth 
Crown  Company  will  hold  the  profession,  if  successful,  by  virtue  of 
aid  given  by  dentists,  by  the  men  who  formed  it  being  received  at 
clinics  and  introduced  without  the  improvements  or  operations  being 
given  fully  to  the  profession.  In  fact,  to  use  a  homely  illustration, 
they  were  "  given  with  a  string  tied  to  them  so  that  they  could  be 
pulled  back — and  the  profession  pulled  in." 

The  student  in  dentistry  is  taught  with  patent  instruments,  uses 
daily  filling-materials  whose  formulas  the  instructors  do  not  know ; 
and,  after  passing  examinations  and  fulfilling  the  legal  requirements 
of  the  State,  must,  if  he  wishes  to  practice  all  that  is  published  in  his 
text-book  regarding  operations,  pay,  or  buy  a  license  from  others, 
or  expect  litigation.  He  will  find  the  instruments  of  his  profession 
so  handicapped  with  patents  that  all  makers  are  not  at  liberty  to 
serve  him.  They  can  withhold,  or  decline  to  make,  and  refuse  to 
permit  others  to  do  so.  This  power  has  been  given  them  by  his 
brothers,  who  have  sold  to  them  the  "  exclusive  right  to  make,  vend, 
or  use."  They  can  direct  him  to  cease  imjDroving  an  instrument, 
because  they  have  bought  from  a  brother  the  patent  which  covers 
it,  and  have  thus  secured  this  power.  Even  a  better  instrument 
cannot  be  introduced  when  this  power  has  been  sold  to  those  outside 
of  the  profession.  If  he  is  studying  any  question  which  involves 
instruments  or  processes,  he  may  find  himself  obliged  to  ask  the 
permission  of  his  brothers  to  work  at  the  problem,  or  else  I  mistake 
in  my  reading  of  the  foot-note  to  an  article  by  Dr.  Bogue  ir^  the 
Dental  Cosmos  of  March,  1885,  where  we  are  informed  that  "  Dr. 
Jarvis  was  the  first  to  separate  teeth  by  means  of  a  screw,  that  Dr. 
Perry  had  improved  on  this  instrument,  and  that,  with  the  permis- 
sion of  both  these  gentlemen.  Dr.  Bogue  had  been  working  on  the 
problem  for  several  years."  These  are  three  well-known  names 
in  the  profession ;  one  has  had  permission  to  work  on  the  prob- 
lem of  separating  teeth.  He  may  find,  after  becoming  a  member 
of  societies  and  listening  to  papers  read  at  the  meetings,  or  when  he 
reads  his  own  journals,  that  papers  seem  to  be  written  to  help  the 
sale  of  appliances  that  destroy  his  independence,  that  men  clinic  to 
advertise  instruments,  or  that  clinics  are  used  to  introduce  quacks 
or  quack  methods.  That  if  he  ask  information  at  a  meeting  or 
clinic  regarding  a  compound  he  may  be  refused  by  the  person  pre- 
senting it ;  find,  after  witnessing  an  operation,  that  he  must  take  out 
a  license  before  introducing  it  in  his  practice.  This  license  may  in- 
volve conditions,  and  be  taken  from  him  at  any  time  for  non-fulfill- 
ment of  them. 


It  is  possible  for  a  Sixth  or  Eighth  avenue  dentist  to  purchase 
the  entire  right  for  ]^ew  York  City,  and  those  who  practice  between 
Sixth  and  Madison  avenues  become  dependent  on  him  for  permission 
to  study  or  use.  He  may  demand  the  right  to  inspect  books  at  any 
time,  have  them  brought  to  him,  or  prescribe  in  what  form  they 
shall  be  kept,  have  the  lists  of  patients  for  whom  the  operations  are 
performed  sent  to  him  as  often  as  need  be,  and  rightfully  refer  to 
any  he  controls  as  "  a  man  who  works  for  me."  It  often  calls  for  as 
much  expense  in  time  and  thought  to  prepare  a  paper  or  perfect  the 
details  of  an  operation  as  to  invent  an  instrument.  The  dentist  who 
is  obliged  to  pay  his  brother  for  the  right  to  use  instruments,  may  not 
be  able  to  invent  another,  and  so  "  get  even."  He  may,  however,  be 
able  to  devise  a  new  way  of  filling,  or  process  of  construction,  and  as 
he  cannot  dispose  of  this  like  an  instrument,  he  must  sell  to  a  company 
who  will  "  work  it  on  the  license  or  royalty  plan."  For,  bear  in 
mind  that  up  to  this  time  we  have  not  been  willing  to  face  the  ques- 
tion of  the  falsehood  of  patents  in  a  liberal  profession,  but  have 
admitted  their  place  in  dentistry,  and  have  only  fought  to  test  the 
legality  of  those  where  license  or  royalty  has  been  asked.  We 
strain  at  the  gnat  of  the  Tooth  Crown  Company,  but  swallow  with- 
out trouble  the  camel  of  illiberal  patents  and  secret  materials.  We 
should  be  teachers,  not  traders,  and  condemn  alike  all  the  men  who 
sell  the  profession  into  the  hands  of  trade.  At  the  present  time 
some  are  selling  the  control  of  instruments  to  makers,  others  pro- 
cesses and  operations  to  companies  who  wish  to  license ;  thus  pro- 
viding an  upper  and  a  nether  millstone  between  which  the  great 
body  of  the  profession  can  be  ground  exceeding  small. 

Many  patent  defenders  say  that  a  man  should  get  his  pay  for  time 
and  labor.  With  this  simple  statement  there  can  be  no  quarrel. 
The  professional  view  is  this :  that  in  getting  his  pay,  he  is  under 
moral  obligation  not  to  injure  his  profession,  nor  by  reason  of  his 
invention  give  power  over  the  profession  or  any  fellow-member  to 
any  one.  That  if  by  reason  of  it  he  has  aided  oppression  of  makers 
of  limited  means,  or  has  subjected  them  to  litigation,  he  makes  him- 
self and  the  profession  a  party  to  illiberal  motives  and  tendencies. 
In  a  liberal  profession  mutual  help,  exchange  of  thought,  whether 
embodied  in  instruments,  essays,  or  consultations,  should  be  a  suffi- 
cient compensation,  and  it  is  so  held  in  the  medical  profession. 

I  read  with  shame  and  professional  humiliation  of  a  teacher  who 
makes  an  appliance  of  a  secret  material,  patented,  so  that  no  one  else 
can  make  it,  sold  through  a  "  sole  agent "  to  combination  dealers  only. 
Exclusive  in  conception,  exclusive  in  execution,  exclusive  in  manner 
of  distribution.     When  this  is  the  teacher,  what  will  be  the  student  ? 

I  am  frequently  met  with  the  remark,  "  I  guess  if  any  of  those 


professional  fellows  got  up  a  good  thing  they  would  patent  it  and 
make  what  they  could  out  of  it."  True,  perhaps,  but  I  have  yet  to 
learn  that  that  is  the  question  under  consideration.  The  point  is, 
that  having  done  so  and  secured  from  the  government  the  power  to 
prevent  all  others  from  "making,  vending,  or  using"  without  my 
consent,  the  power  to  put  fellow-members  under  tribute,  or  sold  to 
others  that  right,  can  I  claim  a  right  to  continued  association  with 
them  on  equal  terms?  Can  I  claim  to  be  a  liberal  member  of  a 
liberal, /ree,  profession,  having  aided  to  bind  it?  If  a  man  will  not 
work,  neither  shall  he  eat.  If  he  will  not  give,  how  can  he  claim 
the  right  to  receive  ? 

We  may,  in  our  poverty,  envy  Cummings,  who  sold  us  for  money 
to  the  Dental  Vulcanite  Company,  and  say  we  would  do  the  same  if 
we  had  the  chance,  and  that  Dr.  Barnum  was  a  fool  not  to  do  so; 
speak  of  the  advantage  that  rubber  plates  have  been  to  thousands. 
But  when  we  talk  of  ethics  we  should  know  that  we  were  not  free 
men  or  a  free  profession  during  those  years  of  disgraceful  bondage ; 
the  atmosphere  was  a  trade  atmosphere,  and  the  men  developed  in 
it  not  professional  men,  and  it  has  left  a  stain  of  trade  on  our  pro- 
fession that  may  never  be  effaced. 

Our  constitution  secures  patents  as  property,  but  there  are  higher 
powers  than  constitutions.  Patents  were  legally  granted  under  it 
for  explosive  bullets,  but  civilized  men  have  not  used  them  against 
each  other,  as  the  object  of  modern  warfare  is  not  to  destroy  life, 
but  to  settle  questions. 

According  to  Blackstone,  the  government  grants  a  patent  in  re- 
turn for  such  information  as  placed  on  record  will  enable  others  to 
construct  or  use  the  article  or  process  after  the  period  for  which  its 
exclusive  use  was  granted  has  expired  ;  in  this  way  overcoming  the 
tendency  of  mean  natures  to  conceal  information,  or  withhold  know- 
ledge from  others. 

"If  your  work  be  mean,"  says  Emerson,  "try  by  your  thought 
and  feeling  to  make  it  liberal."  Physicians,  as  members  of  a  liberal 
profession  whose  first  object  is  not  to  acquire  power,  are  by  reason 
of  their  membership  under  obligations  to  teach,  and  do  not  need  the 
stimulus  of  a  patent  to  make  them  record  knowledge  or  aid  each 
other  or  mankind ;  and  while  the  constitution  will  give  them  the 
right  to  patent,  they  do  not  wish,  as  honorable  gentlemen,  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  power  it  gives  to  exact  or  withhold  from  each 
other  what  their  privilege  of  membership  in  a  liberal  profession 
always  implies  should  be  given  freely. 

I  went  through  the  Children's  Hospital,  in  Boston,  and  after  pass- 
ing through  the  wards  asked  to  be  shown  the  workshop  where  their 
instruments  and  apparatus  are  made.     I  said  to  the  surgeon  who 


10 

attended  me,  "  It  is  as  important  that  you  should  have  those  men 
under  your  control  to  make  as  you  direct,  as  to  control  the  nurses. 
Allow  them  to  patent  those  instruments,  or  patent  each  improve- 
ment that  helps  you  overcome  some  new  difficulty,  and  sell  the  con- 
trol to  them,  and  it  would  be  but  a  few  years  before  they  were 
exercising  more  authority  over  the  instruments  used  in  the  hospital 
than  you."  Then  I  told  him  the  whole  story  of  the  shameful, 
illiberal  condition  of  dental  practice:  that  instruments  ordered 
could  not  be  delivered  on  account  of  the  quarrels  and  litigation 
among  makers ;  that  honorable  practitioners  had  been  forced  by 
threats  of  litigation  to  take  out  licenses  to  perform  operations  and 
pay  a  commission  on  the  amount  received, — were  obliged  to  allow 
the  company  liberty  to  examine  their  books  ;  that  I  had  heard  that 
upwards  of  a  hundred  orders  for  one  instrument  could  not  be 
filled,  because  dentists  had  sold  to  makers  the  power  to  control 
instruments  their  fellow-members  needed ;  that  valuable  instruments 
could  not  be  introduced  because  patents  were  thought  to  cover  them, 
and,  by  having  purchased  those,  makers  could  threaten  with  litiga- 
tion any  one  who  proposed  to  make  them  ;  that  certain  instruments 
were  held  for  lease  and  not  sold,  that  a  license  and  percentage  were 
to  be  charged  for  their  use,  and  that  this  license  could  be  revoked  at 
any  time  for  non-payment.  He  exclaimed  in  astonishment,  "  Are 
dentists  in  such  a  hole  as  that  ?  " 

The  commercial  value  of  a  patent  is  often  in  the  power  it  gives, 
not  in  the  time  spent  on  it,  or  its  ingenuity,  nor  its  value  to  the 
profession ;  and  a  maker,  seeking  to  control  a  market  or  an  instru- 
ment, will  not  look  except  to  the  valuable  vantage  point  that  he 
can  secure  by  purchasing  it.  If  one  by  buying  a  patent  on  an  in-, 
strument  can  prevent  competitors  coming  into  the  field,  that  will  be 
the  value  of  the  patent  to  him.  A  patent,  of  little  or  no  value  on 
its  merits,  may  thus  be  the  key  to  a  legal  situation,  and  others  may; 
be  ruined  by  a  bought  patent.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the 
same  class  of  minds  that  justify  patents  in  dentistry  also  justify 
secret  preparations  and  the  refusal  to  teach  improvement  or  give, 
information,  and  the  formula  of  materials  or  medicine  and  their  true 
or  scientific  nomenclature.  Thus  patents  are  only  part  of  their 
offending  against  the  standard  set  for  a  liberal  profession,  and  thus 
the  real  object — exclusiveness — becomes  apparent.  Others  seek  to 
turn  the  question  from  patent  right  to  copyright,  though  I  have  not 
heard  them  mention  the  book  whose  owners  have  formed  a  company 
and  worked  it  on  the  "license  or  royalty  plan."  When  copyright 
is  used  like  patent  right,  so  that  the  consent  of  the  author  or 
owner  must  be  asked  before  operations  can  be  performed,  and  com- 
panies are  formed  to  license,  permit,  or  appoint  those  who  shall  have 


11 

the  right  to  act  for  them  in  certain  territory,  it  will  be  the  duty  of 
tho8e  who  guard  education  and  the  liberal  profession  to  include  that 
also,  among  those  things  that  debar  from  membership  or  association. 

Mr.  Dixey  has,  I  believe,  the  exclusive  right  in  all  America  to  sing 
"It's  English,  you  Know,"  but  Mr.  Dixey  does  not  call  himself  a 
member  of  a  liberal  profession,  or  claim  to  be  under  its  obligation, 
nor  does  he  ask  favors  of  them ;  nor  can  he  claim  for  others,  as  does 
a  physician,  the  right  of  consultation  by  virtue  of  his  society  mem- 
bership. 

A  defender  of  patents  in  dentistry,  in  writing  to  a  medical  journal, 
makes  this  humiliating  confession  regarding  the  subserviency  to  trade 
to  which  they  have  reduced  dental  societies :  "  Our  dental  inven- 
tions are  not,"  he  writes,  "  shut  up  like  those  of  our  medical  confreres 
in  one  city  or  in  one  society,  but  are  shown  in  practical  use  at  all 
the  clinics  of  the  State  societies,  either  by  the  inventor  in  person, 
or  a  practitioner  appointed  by  the  dental  firm  who  holds  the  right  of 
manufacturing." 

Are  the  appointments  of  the  surgeons  who  operate  in  the  hospi- 
tals of  your  city  made  by  firms  who  own  and  manufacture  instru- 
ments? Is  this  right  of  manufacturing  ever  sold  without  the  power 
to  threaten  or  to  sue  other  dentists  who  may  be  improving  instru- 
ments that  may  infringe  or  compete  with  it?  One  would  suppose 
that  pecuniary  interest  would  be  enough  to  debar  from  a  meeting  or 
clinic  those  things  in  which  practitioners  had  a  financial  interest. 
For  in  a  meeting  a  member  is  at  once  judge  and  jury  and  witness  ; 
and  Garretson  says,  in  writing  on  expert  testimony,  •'  that  the  scien- 
tific man  who  appears  in  the  witness  box  as  an  advocate  cuckolds 
science."  And  are  our  societies,  schools,  and  journals  less  in  impor- 
tance ?  Mr.  Justice  Gray,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
left  the  bench  and  did  not  take  part  in  hearing  "  The  Telephone 
Case"  merely  because  a  relative  was  a  stockholder;  and  no  lawyer 
can  be  asked  to  try  a  case  before  a  judge  or  jury  who  would  be 
financially  interested  in  the  result  of  the  verdict. 

In  clinics  all  should  be  given  as  part  of  a  scientific  and  professional 
demonstration,  not  as  a  sign-board  to  point  the  way  to  the  shop  of 
some  exclusive  maker.  Clinics  are  best  defined  as  "  bedside  teaching,'' 
but  our  neglect  of  professional  obligations  has  reduced  them  to  bed- 
side peddling.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  dental  society  holding  clinics 
to-day  that  is  not  introducing  illiberal  practices.  The  odious  Tooth 
Crown  Company  gained  its  first  introduction  through  them. 

The  dignity  of  the  professional  teacher  requires  that  clinics  shall 
not  be  used  as  advertising  boards  for  patent  instruments  or  materials, 
but  that  all  operations  taught  in  them  should  be  performed  with  free 
instruments,  and  should  be  as  free  \q  be  followed  as  any  operations 


12 

in  the  hospitals  of  your  city  by  the  surgeons  witnessing  them. 
Better  give  them  up  than  to  have  them  used  by  Tooth  Crown  Com- 
panies, or  the  like,  or  conducted  in  a  trade  atmosphere  which  poisons 
professional  life-blood,  so  that  it  will  not  forma  healthy  professional 
growth.  On  nearly  every  society  programme  I  see  the  names  of 
teachers  in  our  colleges,  who,  by  reason  of  their  patents  on  the 
instruments  to  be  used  in  the  clinics,  make  it  not  unfair  in  us  to 
suppose  they  derive  a  pecuniary  benefit  thereby  ;  and  I,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, who  am  a  simple  man,  and  perhaps  foolish  enough  to  think 
that  men  who  desire  to  be  classed  as  belonging  to  a  liberal  profession 
should  strive  to  show  the  outward  or  visible  signs  or  forms  of  one 
as  evidence  that  they  are  possessed,  also,  of  its  inward  or  spiritual 
grace,  have  been  sadly  troubled  whether  to  class  these  gentlemen 
as  "  college  teachers"  acting  as  depot-steerers,  or  "  depot-steerers" 
acting  as  college  teachers. 

If  we  are  to  be  satisfied  with  menial  positions  because  they  pay 
best,  well  and  good.  Some  cooks  receive  a  larger  sum  per  annum 
than  some  college  presidents ;  but  I  have  not  heard  that  our  univer- 
sities have,  as  yet,  given  up  teaching  the  humanities  to  train  cooks, 
nor  that  the  latter  are  asked  to  grace  our  platforms  on  commence- 
ment days. 

Let  us  be  spared  the  mortification  of  knowing  that  any  member 
of  a  body  which  calls  itself  a  liberal  profession,  governed  by  moral 
and  professional  obligations,  has  been  so  false  to  them  as  to  assist  liti- 
gation among  our  instrument-makers  by  selling  to  them  for  money 
the  power  to  destroy  the  men  of  small  capital,  and  has  stood  by 
consenting  to  their  commercial  death.  The  man  who  can  say,  "  I 
will  go  with  makers  when  they  pay  me  more  than  societies,"  prosti- 
tutes professional  position.  There  should  be  no  underground  rail- 
road running  between  the  editor's  chair  and  the  shop  of  the  maker 
or  dealer  in  instruments.  The  editing  of  a  journal  should  be  done 
with  as  much  understanding  of  The  Code  and  what  constitutes  a 
liberal  profession  as  any  service  it  receives.  All  professional  matters 
should  be  given  importance,  and  all  trade  interests  equal  terms.  No 
article  should  appear  in  the  reading  pages  written  in  behalf  of 
materials  in  which  editor  or  publisher  have  pecuniary  interest. 
They  should  have  no  connection  with  trade  so  that  it  would  be  to 
their  interest  to  delay  or  prevent  publication  of  the  freest  discussion 
of  the  requirements  of  practice,  or  any  topic  that  the  profession 
chooses  to  take  up.  A  journal  must  be  the  outspoken  mouth-piece 
of  an  outspoken  profession;  for  to  allow  the  advertising  pages  to  be 
controlled  by  any  one  dealer  mars  the  professional  standing  of  the 
whole  journal.  For  a  member  of  the  profession  to  lend  his  name 
as  editor  to  a  journal  whose  publisher  is  likewise  an  instrument- 


13 

maker,  who  refuses  to  admit  or  continue  advertisements  of  compet- 
ing makers,  is  to  tarnish  professional  character  and  the  independence 
of  the  editor  as  well.  Let  the  reading  pages  be  open  to  the  intro- 
duction of  practical  matter  and  improvement  also.  Let  them  find  a 
place  beside  the  microscopist  for  a  description  and  illustration  of 
the  wonderful  blow-pipe  of  Prof  John  8.  Thompson,  of  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  beside  the  pathologist  for  the  machine  for  cutting 
engine-burs  invented  by  Dr.  E.  B.  Call,  of  Peoria,  111.  We  cannot 
expect  them  to  be  given  equal  importance  in  our  journals  if  they 
are  not  conceived  of  by  the  inventors,  the  profession,  and  the  society, 
as  services  due  to  it  by  reason  of  membership.  For  many  of  these 
omissions  the  blame  rests  at  our  own  doors.  Had  the  beautiful 
mechanism  perfected  by  Dr.  Perry,  and  known  as  the  Weber-Perry 
engine,  been  completely  described  and  illustrated  so  that  any  prac- 
titioner could  have  had  one  made  by  a  competent  instrument-maker, 
when  first  invented,  it  would  have  become  the  absolute  property 
of  the  pi'ofession ;  and  what  better  service  can  be  given  to-day  than 
the  invention  and  presentation  of  a  dental  engine  that  may  be  made 
by  any  instrument-maker,  and  rank  as  a  professional  surgical  instru- 
ment ? 

From  a  scientific,  moral,  or  professional  stand-point,  it  would  seem 
almost  incredible  that  the  editor  or  publisher  of  journals  claiming 
to  represent  the  profession  should  know  of  valuable  instruments, 
and  not  mention  them  in  their  journals,  be  the  owners  of  processes 
of  manufacture  that  are  not  published,  or  should  be  concerned  in 
hindering  their  use  by  others.  It  is  disgraceful  even  to  be  sus- 
pected of  hindering  a  professional  or  scientific  man  from  obtain- 
ing anything  he  wishes  to  use  in  his  work,  that  they  should  be  con- 
cerned in  suppressing  competition,  or  give  men  who  violate  the 
medical  code  prominence  in  their  journals.  Yet  the  statement  is 
freely  made  that  processes  of  use  to  the  dentist  are  not  printed  by 
editors  or  publishers  of  our  journals,  though  known  by  them  for 
years. 

Dentistry  cannot  ignore  the  mechanical,  but  must  clothe  it  with 
honor  as  the  orthopedic  surgeon  has  done,  by  bringing  what  enters 
into  our  practice  under  scientific  and  liberal  control. 

With  the  combination  of  instrument-makers  and  others  called  by 
those  who  compose  it  the  "  Dental  Trade  Association,"  we  are  con- 
cerned, as  it  affects  our  profession.  It  is  not  something  we  are  at 
liberty  to  discuss  if  we  wish  ;  but  if  its  effects  are  such  as  to  keep 
dental  requirements  from  the  usual  channels  of  medical  and  other 
scientific  supplies,  or  to  hinder  competent  persons  engaging  in  our 
service,  it  becomes  a  question  that  it  is  our  duty  to  discuss,  and  one 
which  we  have  no  right  to  omit. 


14 

The  evil  effects  of  patents  and  secrets  in  the  profession  are  mani- 
fested as  well  by  their  effect  on  our  instrument-makers  ;  they  have 
become  so  thoroughly  debauched  by  them  that  the  first  question 
seems  to  be  always,  not  to  supply  what  is  needed,  but  to  make  that  of 
which  they  can  secure  exclusive  control  either  by  secrets  or  patents. 

The  advantage  gained  by  a  patent  or  secret  process  encourages  the 
aggregation  of  interest;  and,  having  secured  the  power  to  prevent 
all  others  from  making  one  instrument,  it  was  but  a  logical  step  to 
form  an  organization  which  should  secure  the  control  of  all  the  re- 
quirements of  dental  practice,  and  under  this  system  those  who 
have  patents  or  secrets  to  sell  will  receive  more  consideration  than 
those  who  wish  to  introduce  professional  or  open  articles  in  which 
there  may  be  subsequent  competition. 

Some  time  after  graduating  I  became  interested  in  gutta-percha, 
followed  it  as  well  as  I  could  from  supply  to  source,  and  gave 
all  I  knew  freely  to  students  and  societies.  I  received  one  day  an 
application  from  a  dealer  who  had  been  asked  by  dentists  to  procure 
it  for  them.  I  replied  as  follows, — I  omit  names,  of  course,  because 
this  is  not  a  fight  against  persons,  but  for  a  principle : 

"  Yours  of  .  .  .  .  is  at  hand.  I  shall  be  much  pleased  to  aid 
you  in  getting  a  gutta-percha  filling  before  the  profession,  and  will 
teach  freely  all  I  know  regarding  it  to  any  one  whom  you  may 
select.  I  shall  require  in  return  that  it  be  professional  in  every  way. 
Its  formula  must  be  printed  both  on  the  label  and  circular,  both  to 
be  made  out  as  directed  by  me.  It  must  then  be  ranked  among 
physicians'  and  surgeons'  supplies,  and  sold  at  a  uniform  wholesale 
rate  to  all  druggists,  dental  depots,  makers  and  dealers  in  dental  and 
surgical  instruments,  etc.  Eegard  for  the  standing  of  the  profession, 
and  my  position  as  a  teacher  at  the  dental  school,  will  not  permit 
me  to  grant  the  use  of  my  name  except  under  these  conditions." 

Were  there  any  conditions  imposed  that  any  physician  or  teacher 
should  not  require  ?  Yet  the  substance  of  the  reply  I  received  was: 
"  On  business  principles  we  could  not  accept  the  conditions  you 
mentioned  ;  it  would  be  too  much  of  a  departure  from  business 
plans  of  the  past  for  us  to  undertake." 

It  was  certainly  my  duty  to  require  what  I  did,  and  I  presume, 
also,  the  gentlemen  who  wrote  me  felt  it  their  duty  to  "The  Com- 
bination "  to  refuse  to  supply  the  gutta-percha  as  a  pi-ofessional 
material. 

I  notice  that  it  is  claimed  by  a  speaker  in  a  Western  meeting  that 
this  "  association  is  just  the  same  as  the  dental  society,"  and  organ- 
ized just  as  we  are  "  to  keep  out  scalawags."  Now,  our  societies  are 
not  organized  to  keep  out  scalawags,  but  by  the  scientific  and  liberal 
associations  that  should  cluster  around  them  to  prevent  members  from 


15 

becoming  scalawags.  But  the  scalawag  question  interests  me  a 
little  further;  for  I  read  under  article  16,  page  12,  of  what  purports 
to  be  the  "  By-Laws  of  the  Dental  Trade  Association  :  "  "  In  future 
no  practicing  dentist,  not  now  a  dealer,  shall  be  eligible  to  membership  in 
this  association,  or  entitled  to  trade  discounts."  And  I  am  moved  to 
ask  if,  in  the  opinion  of  our  Western  friend  of  the  combination, 
"  practicing  dentist"  and  "  scalawag"  are  synonymous  terms. 

It  is  not  strange  if,  for  a  time,  our  instrument-makers  fail  to  under- 
stand the  position  they  should  take,  for  we  have  led  a  lax  profes- 
sional life,  and  our  recognition  by  the  American  Medical  Association 
is  but  recent.  They  will  now  be  called  upon  to  abandon  secret  or 
patent  processes  and  instruments,  and  advance  to  the  position  of 
professional  and  scientific  makers. 

Our  schools  can  do  much  for  securing  competition.  It  should  not 
be  in  the  power  of  the  agents  of  any  maker  to  say  that  a  profes- 
sional school  "  plays  its  students"  into  the  hands  of  one.  There  is 
professional  propriety  in  favoring  none.  There  is  professional  dis- 
grace in  admitting  but  one. 

The  spirit  of  Article  I,  Section  4,  of  the  medical  code  should  be 
sufficient  to  guide  us  in  the  treatment  of  combination  makers : 

"  Section  IV.  .  .  Physicians  ought  to  use  all  the  influence 
which  they  possess  as  professors  in  colleges  of  pharmacy,  and  by  ex- 
ercising their  option  in  regard  to  the  shops  to  which  their  pre- 
scriptions shall  be  sent,  to  discourage  druggists  and  apothecaries 
from  vending  quack  or  secret  medicines,  or  from  being  in  any  way 
engaged  in  their  manufacture  or  sale." 

It  is  clearly  our  duty  under  this  to  take  heed  that  we  encourage 
science  by  purchasing  and  using,  as  far  as  possible,  professional 
requirements, — those  that  are  free  from  patents  and  secrets  open 
to  all  qualified  to  make,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  object  of  the  code 
is  not  to  fight  patents  and  secrets  in  general,  but  to  keep  them 
out  of  medicine,  thereby  providing  that  it  shall  continue  a  liberal 
profession,  and  that  we  may  not  in  buying  our  requirements  aid  in 
degrading  our  calling.  "Millions  for  supplies,  and  not  one  cent  in 
aid  of  quackery,"  will  be  a  good  motto.  We  should  insist  that  all  aid 
we  give  workmen  by  directing  them  in  the  making  of  our  require- 
ments be  met  with  a  guarantee  that  they  shall  afterwards  be 
handled  as  medical  and  scientific  supplies,  thus  recognizing  that 
everything  has  an  ,ethical  as  well  as  a  useful  end,  and,  unless 
guarded,  may  be  used  to  degrade  as  well  as  to  aid  us.  The  laws  of 
health  and  contagion  have  taught  us  that  if  we  will  not  be  our 
brother's  keeper  he  will  be  our  destroyer. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  connection  with  the  assertion  that  the 
combination  has  nothing  to  do  with  prices,  that  they  have  been 


16 

reduced  only  in  materials  that  come  into  competition  with  it  and 
can  be  bought  outside. 

"  Sell  me  this  patent ;  we  shall  never  dictate  to  dentists,"  says 
the  Tooth  Crown  Company  or  instrument-maker.  The  profes- 
sional man  must  answer,  "  I  cannot  sell  you  the  'power  to  do  it  even 
if  you  do  not  propose  to."  For  patent  does  not  imply  use,  hnipower 
over  so  much  of  dentistry  as  the  invention  covers,  and  makers  often 
demand  complete  control  as  a  condition  of  making;  and  once  made 
property  by  patent,  death,  sale,  financial  embarrassment,  litigation, 
all  become  agents  that  may  remove  it  from  the  profession  and  give 
its  title  to  others.  The  fact  that  they  are  property  is  just  the  worst 
part  of  it,  and  constitutes  the  danger  to  a  liberal  profession.  Dr. 
Hale,  in  the  address  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  said, 
"  The  medical  profession  brands  with  infamy  the  man  who  makes 
God's  Truth  his  property."  We  do  not  want  our  calling  to  depend 
upon  the  views  of  others  regarding  their  property,  be  they  the 
Tooth  Crown  Company  or  combination  instrument-makers.  For 
not  more  surely  does  the  wire  that  runs  to  our  office  bring  with  it 
the  subtle  power  of  electricity,  than  do  patents  and  secrets  subject 
our  profession  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  trade. 

Those  who  must  advise  their  sons  to  follow  or  not  the  calling  of 
their  fathers  may  be  pardoned  for  wishing  to  know  if  they  are  to 
advise  them  to  take  an  independent  calling,  or  one  whose  practice 
on  entering  they  will  find  involved  in  continual  litigation,  and  for 
whom  every  new  operation  may  include  a  new  terror  or  degrading 
condition  which  absolute  ownership  by  others  may  impose;  though 
I  am  free  to  admit  that  it  will  not  interfere  with  the  practice  of 
those  who  find  their  highest  ideal  of  dentistry  in  the  polish  of  in- 
struments, in  the  cohering  of  gold,  in  the  soldering  of  bridge-work, 
or  in  the  vulcanization  of  rubber,  "  and  who  daily  strive  through  all 
life's  space  in  hope  to  stand  well  in  some  maker's  grace." 

For  the  raison  d'etre  of  our  profession  is  not  to  produce,  secure,  or 
use  highly-polished  instruments.  Dentistry  should  rise  to  and  rest 
its  claims  upon  its  scientific,  physiological,  and  moral  purposes  and 
obligations, — the  preservation  and  restoration  of  function,  the  relief 
and  prevention  of  suffering  and  pain,  the  restoration  of  grace  and 
symmetry,  and  the  aid  it  gives  that  there  may  be  a  "  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body."  That  to  do  this  we  should  be  free  as  physicians 
to  call  to  our  aid  the  arts  and  sciences ;  they  to  furnish  the  means, 
we  to  give  the  special  application.  That  our  needs  create  and 
develop  instruments ;  they  are  our  aids  and  under  our  control,  or 
should  be,  not  we  to  be  controlled  by  them. 

We  are  not  trying  this  case  of  "  Patent  Secrets  vs.  a  Liberal  Pro- 
fession"   before   a    jury   of  machine-shops,   instrument-makers   or 


17 

dealers,  the  journals  they  control,  their  employees,  or  those  members 
of  societies  that  they  hold  in  leash.  We  are  trying  it  by  the  liberal 
standard  set  by  all  liberal  professions.  Scientific  and  professional 
interests  call  for  scientific  and  professional  tests,  and  discussions  on 
them  are  not  conducted  by  anonymous  writers  or  paid  attorneys.  No 
man  who  is  willing  to  act  in  schools,  societies,  or  journals  in  the  pay 
of  an  instrument-maker  can  pick  a  quarrel  with  us  on  this  question. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  as  a  witness  the  honored  head  of 
our  university,  whose  address  before  the  American  Academy  of 
Dental  Science  was  the  first  comparative  study  of  dentistry  made 
by  so  competent  an  authority  : 

"There  is  another  common  attribute  of  good  physicians  and  sur- 
geons which  has  had  great  effect  to  elevate  and  liberalize  their  pro- 
fession. I  mean  their  characteristic  zeal  for  teaching.  This  zeal 
is  manifested  not  only  in  giving  direct  instruction  to  medical  students, 
but  in  imparting  to  medical  societies  and  the  public  every  important 
fact  observed,  every  useful  practice  invented,  and  every  suggestive 
opinion  or  promising  theory  conceived.  The  constant  desire  and 
purpose  on  the  part  of  its  members  to  teach,  to  impart  to  all  any 
peculiar  knowledge  which  each  may  acquire,  is  one  of  the  principal 
distinctions  between  a  liberal  profession  and  a  trade.  Dentistry 
would  have  no  claim  to  be  called  a  liberal  profession  did  not  its- 
practitioners  manifest  this  zeal  for  teaching." 

Those  who  are  making  this  fight  for  the  improvement  of  dentistry 
will  not  be  turned  by  ridicule  or  misrepresentation,  for  we  know 
that  that  can  be  cheaply  hired  in  the  market,  but  those  that  oppose 
us  must  show  that  we  have  misrepresented  medicine  or  the  liberal 
professions  ;  when  they  have  done  that  we  will  beg  their  pardon  and 
retire  from  the  contest. 

You  will  all  be  glad,  I  know,  to  hear  these  words  from  a  Nestor 
of  our  profession,  Dr.  W.  W.  H.  Thackston,  of  Virginia : 

Farmtillb,  Ya.,  March  the  9th,  1889. 
Horatio  C.  Meriam,  D.M.D.,  Salem,  Mass.  : 

My  dear  Doctor, — Yery  warmly  sympathizing  with  your  efforts  and  labors  for 
the  betterment  and  true  advancement  of  dentistry  as  a  "liberal  profession,"  I 
can  only  most  keenly  regret  that  my  health  at  present  forbids  a  trip  from  home, 
unless  to  visit  a  milder  climate  than  even  Virginia  affords. 

I  am  just  recovering  from  a  bronchial  and  laryngeal  trouble,  which  demands- 
every  precaution  to  avert  a  relapse,  and  consequently  have  been  obliged  to  decline 
the  kind  and  courteous  invitation  of  the  New  York  Odontological  Society  to  be 
their  guest  at  the  approaching  meeting.  I  lament  my  inability  to  be  personally 
present  at  the  said  meeting  of  the  Odontological  Society,  where  I  might  have 
another  opportunity  of  giving  oral  expression  to  sentiments,  views,  and  convic- 
tions which  1  have  held,  and  which  I  have  earnestly  sought  to  teach  and  enforce 
in  all  my  private  professional  intercourse  and  public  positions  and  relations  during 
nearly  five  decades  of  active  professional  life. 


18 

For  nearly  fifty  years  I  have  unceasingly  labored  to  lift  American  dentistry  to 
the  plane  of  an  accepted,  recognized,  and  acknowledged  liberal  profession, — a  pro- 
fession co-equal  in  character,  in  dignity,  and  general  esteem  and  appreciation 
with  medicine,  with  general  surgery,  with  law,  and  with  any  and  all  the  accepted 
and  accredited  departments  of  science.  I  have  always  and  everywhere,  with 
word  and  pen,  in  public  addresses  and  monographs  for  the  journals,  by  appeal,  by 
argument,  by  fierce  invective  and  denunciation,  antagonized  the  irregularities 
and  empiricism  that  shadowed  our  pretensions  and  stained  our  professional 
escutcheon. 

I  have  at  last  the-  satisfaction  of  rejoicing  in  at  least  the  partial  fruition  of 
long-deferred  but  constantly  cherished  hopes.  At  last  I  have  lived  to  see  dentistry 
regularly,  formally,  and  oflSicially  adopted  and  admitted  to  the  fold  of  learned  and 
liberal  pursuits  and  callings.  At  last  the  true  professional  sentiment  is  asserting 
itself  in  our  ranks,  and  finding  advocates  and  exemplars  among  our  most  distin- 
guished representatives  ;  and  I  comfort  myself  with  the  reflection  that  I  may  yet 
live  to  see  the  "  bar  sinister"  wiped  from  our  armorial  ensigns. 

I  make  no  fight  and  have  made  no  war  against  artisans,  tradesmen,  or  others 
outside  the  liberal  professions  who  seek  or  have  availed  themselves  of  patents  and 
the  protection  of  patent  laws,  to  appropriate  and  make  monopolies  of  their  pur- 
chased wares,  their  inventions,  and  their  discoveries,  though  it  must  be  confessed 
that  in  many  instances  the  exactions  of  such  monopolies  are  most  hideous  and 
oppressive ;  but  the  legal  and  often  strained  moral  right  is  clearly  with  them. 
The  unprofessional  man,  the  artisan,  the  inventor,  the  tradesman,  as  a  rule,  have 
not  been  the  beneficiaries  of  the  schools.  They  have  not  "  without  money  and 
without  price"  freely  drawn  upon  the  accumulated  stores  and  resources  of  the 
sciences  and  professions,  of  all  the  ages  and  all  the  civilized  world.  They  have 
taken  no  "  Hippocratic  oath,"  have  pledged  fealty  to  no  code  of  professional 
ethics,  and  may,  without  discredit  or  dishonor,  cover  their  product  with  scripts 
from  the  Patent  Office,  and  only  become  culpable  by  an  abuse  of  their  vested 
monopoly. 

The  professional  man,  the  physician,  the  general  or  the  special  surgeon,  the 
dentist,  who  conceals  or  appropriates  a  discovery,  an  invention,  an  instrument, 
appliance,  or  an  improved  method,  who  compounds  a  nostrum  and  dispenses  it 
for  his  individual  profit,  or  who  sells  the  same  for  a  consideration  to  another  with 
the  design  of  its  being  covered  by  letters  patent, — violates  and  contravenes  every 
principle  and  sentiment  of  professional  morality,  every  obligation  held  ssacred  by 
the  "  code,"  every  usage  and  tradition  accepted,  honored,  and  observed  as  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  an  elevated  and  liberal  calling. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  supplement  the  arguments  you  will  address  to  the  Odonto- 
logical  Society  of  New  York  ;  and  the  limits  of  such  a  communication  as  I  am 
now  making  afford  no  opportunity  of  contrasting  the  long  line  of  "  immortals" 
who  have  honored  the  profession,  who  have  ennobled  the  true  manhood,  and  who 
have  blessed  humanity  with  their  labors  and  benefactions,  and  who  have  accepted 
the  approval  of  their  own  consciences  and  the  gratitude  of  their  fellow-men  as  a  full 
and  abundant  requital  of  their  grand  achievements  and  priceless  bequests,  with 
the  selfishness  and  vulgar  cupidity  that  has  shamed  our  age,  and  which  casts  re- 
proach upon  our  claims  to  a  higher  civilization.  The  ravening  beast  of  prey 
finds  a  luscious  morsel;  he  gloats,  devours,  and  shows  his  teeth  and  claws  to  his 
own  whelps  and  kind.  The  "  Tooth  Crown,"  the  "  Eubber,"  or  other  patentee 
grips  his  new-found  good  (or  bad)  thing,  and  to  all  comers,  even  his  whelps  and 
kind,  shows  his  patent- script  and  demands  his  tribute  coin.     This  may  be  sane- 


19 

tioned  by  the  soulless  and  selfish  laws  of  trade  ;  but  by  the  morals  of  a  "  liberal 
profession'" — never. 

To  sum  up,  and  conclude  :  Dentistry  is  either  a  trade,  with  the  license  of  an 
open  and  unrestricted  business  pursuit,  or  it  is  one  of  the  "  liberal  professions." 
If  the  latter  (as  no  one  will  now  question),  it  should  be  regulated  and  controlled 
by  the  laws,  usages,  and  customs  that  distinguish  all  other  "  liberal  professions  ;" 
and  from  my  own  apprehension  of  the  subject  it  is  now  morally  mandatory  that 
dentists,  as  well  as  physicians  and  others,  should  respect,  observe,  and  conform  to 
those  laws,  regulations,  and  usages.  As  I  have  said,  and  now  repeat  and  em- 
phasize, I  make  no  war  or  fight  against  inventors,  artisans,  tradesmen,  and  mer- 
chants ;  but  the  professional  member  of  what  is  recognized  as  a  "  learned  and 
liberal  calling,"  who  appropriates  and  patents  a  discovery,  invention,  an  appli- 
ance or  remedy,  or  who  sells  the  same  to  another  to  be  patented  and  made  a  mono- 
poly, not  only  compromises  himself,  but  inflicts  a  grievous  wrong  upon  society 
as  well  as  the  profession  which  he  has  solemnly  covenanted  to  honor,  protect, 
enhance,  and  improve. 

"With  highest  appreciation  of  your  efforts  and  labors  in  behalf  of  dentistry  as  a 
"  liberal  profession,"  and  with  every  wish  for  the  success  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Odontological  Society  of  New  York, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  truly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  W.  H.  Thackston. 

That  all  may  be  clear,  1  have  written  to  some  whose  words  must 
carry  more  weight  than  mine,  and  I  will  read  you  my  letters  and 
the  replies  received. 

My  first  is  from  the  president  of  the  Congress  of  American  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
professor  of  surgery  in  Harvard  University,  and  surgeon  to  the 
City  Hospital  in  Boston,  to  whom  I  addressed  the  following  letter: 


257  Essex  St.,  Salem,  Mass.,  Feb.  6, 
Dr.  David  W.  Cheever,  Harvard  Medical  School,  Boston,  Mass. : 

Dear  Sir, — I  am  preparing  an  address  for  the  New  York  Odontological  Society 
on  "  Professional  Atmosphere  and  Morals,"  to  be  delivered  in  March  next,  and 
shall  be  much  pleased  if  you  will  give  me  for  use  iii  it  your  opinion — as  dentistry 
claims  to  be  a  specialty  of  medicine — on  the  propriety  of  its  members  holding 
patents  on  the  requirements  of  its  practice,  instruments,  etc.,  or  being  interested 
in  proprietary  trade-mark  or  secret  materials  or  medicines,  or  encouraging  their  use, 
manufacture,  or  sale.  Can  its  members  with  due  regard  for  professional  inde- 
pendence, honor,  and  morality,  hold  positions  as  teachers  in  dental  schools  or 
colleges,  or  appear  as  such  at  societies  or  clinics,  performing  operations  or  using 
initruments  on  which  they  receive  payment,  royalty,  or  commission  from  makers 
or  companies  controlling  them  ?  Will  the  tendency  of  these  things  be  to  create 
or  destroy  a  liberal  profession,  and  will  they,  if  existing,  prevent  dentistry  ad- 
vancing to  the  position  of  one  ? 

A  number  of  gentlemen  wish  to  bring  this  matter  before  those  interested  in 
professional  questions  and  the  improvement  of  dentistry.  Any  help  that  you  can 
give  us  will  be  of  value  to  the  profession  and  aid  of  us. 

Very  truly  yours,  Horatio  C.  Meriam. 


20 

The  following  is  his  reply, — dividing  the  letter  into  three  ques- 
tions : 

238  BoYLSTON  St.,  Boston,  Feb.  9,  1889. 
Horatio  C.  Meriam,  D.M.D.,  Salem,  Mass. : 

My  dear  Doctor, — In  reply  to  your  three  Inquiries  in  your  letter  of  Feb.  6,  I 
would  answer,  decidedly  : 

To  the  first  question,  No.  To  the  second  question,  No.  To  the  third  question. 
Destroy  and  prevent. 

I  am  very  positive  that  such  things  would  not  be  tolerated  in  the  medical  pro- 
fession. 

Very  truly  yours,  David  W.  Cheever. 

A  similar  letter  to  one  whose  name  is  not  unknown  to  you  was 
replied  to  as  follows  : 

(Dictated.) 

Boston,  Feb.  8,  1889. 
Dear  Dr.  Meriam, — It  is  for  the  dental  profession  to  settle  its  own  status. 
Its  work  is  so  largely  mechanical  that  it  necessarily  tempts  inventors  to  seek  for- 
tunes through  improvements  in  dental  instruments.  The  more  exactly  they  ex- 
clude owners  of  money-making  contrivances  who  patent  their  inventions,  the 
better  will  be  their  claim  to  be  considered  a  liberal  profession. 

Yours  very  truly,  0.  W.  Holmes. 

From  the  dean  of  Harvard  Medical  School  and  its  professor  of 
physiology  was  received  the  following  reply  : 

Jamaica  Plain,  Feb.  18,  1889. 

Dear  Dr.  Meriam, — I  have  received  your  letter  of  Feb.  6  asking  my  opinion 
on  the  probable  eflFects  upon  the  dental  profession  of  its  members  becoming 
pecuniarily  interested  in  patent  processes  and  materials  used  in  the  practice  of 
their  art.  As  a  reason  for  addressing  me  on  this  subject  you  say  that  "  Dentistry 
claims  to  be  a  specialty  in  medicine." 

It  seems  to  me  that  were  this  claim  generally  made  and  allowed  there  would 
be  no  occasion  for  discussing  the  above  question,  for  it  would  then  never  occur  to 
a  dentist  to  patent  a  process  for  filling  a  tooth,  any  more  than  to  a  surgeon  to 
patent  a  method  of  operating  on  hernia.  It  is  precisely  because  so  many  dentists 
look  upon  their  business  as  a  trade  rather  than  as  a  profession  that  trade  methods 
find  so  easy  application  in  dentistry.  With  this  tradesman's  view  it  is  difficult  to 
find  fault.  No  moral  reason  can  be  given  why  a  dentist,  if  he  desires  to  do  so, 
should  not  reap  the  reward  of  his  skill  and  ingenuity  in  the  same  way  that  is  per- 
mitted to  an  engineer  or  a  mechanic.  It  is  only  when  viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  member  of  a  liberal  profession  that  such  conduct  appears  objectionable, 
for  the  chief  distinction  between  professional  men  and  traders  is  that  the  former 
are  animated  by  an  esprit  de  corps,  and  work  largely  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munity, while  the  latter  have,  as  a  rule,  no  such  motive,  and  work  chiefly  for  their 
own  individual  benefit. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  there  can  be  no  greater  obstacle  to  the  recognition 
of  dentistry  as  a  liberal  profession  than  the  interest  of  the  practitioner  in  secret 
materials  and  patent  methods.  Hence  it  is  clearly  the  duty  of  those  who  desire 
to  see  dentistry  assume  a  position  as  a  specialty  of  medicine  to  discourage  such 
practices  in  every  possible  way.     There  need  be  no  quarrel  with  those  who  see 


21 

fit  to  patent  their  inventions  or  to  hold  patent  rights,  but  it  should  be  distinctly 
und^^rstood  that  in  so  doing  they  are  working  on  lines  inconsistent  with  profes- 
sional standards.  When  the  lines  are  thus  clearly  drawn,  the  strength  of  the  claim 
which  dentistry  may  make  to  be  regarded  as  a  liberal  profession  will  be  ap- 
parent. 

You  also  raise  a  second  and  quite  a  different  question,  whether  a  dentist  may 
"properly  encourage  the  use,  manufacture,  or  sale  of  secret  materials  or  medicines.' 
Here  it  seems  to  be  more  difficult  to  lay  down  a  general  rule,  for  it  may  happen 
that  a  patented  method  of  filling  may  be  better  adapted  than  any  other  to  a  par- 
ticular case,  and  the  dentist's  duty  to  his  patient  would  then  require  him  to  use 
it,  in  the  same  way  that  a  surgeon  would  not  hesitate  to  use  a  patent  drill  if  he 
found  it  better  suited  than  any  other  tool  for  performing  a  special  operation.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  general  use  of  patented  methods  and  materials  would  subject 
dentists  to  an  intolerable  supervision  of  their  practice.  Cases  of  the  sort  will, 
however,  be  of  much  less  frequent  occurrence  when  dentistry  takes  its  place  as  a 
specialty  of  medicine. 

With  best  wishes  for  your  success  in  agitating  this  important  subject, 

Yours  very  truly,  H.  P.  Bowditch. 

The  dean  of  the  medical  school  expressed  himself  more  strongly 
than  in  his  letter,  at  the  recent  meeting  in  celebration  of  the  twen- 
tieth anniversary  of  the  dental  school,  saying  that  he  would  use 
patent  instruments  that  aided  him,  as  he  would  use  a  telephone  that 
helped  him  in  teaching  physiology,  but  of  course  no  professional 
man  would  be  pecuniarily  interested  in  patents  on  instruments  of 
his  profession. 

I  wrote  our  hospital  in  Boston  to  know  if  the  clinics  there  are 
ever  used  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  patent  instruments,  medi- 
cines, or  operations,  secret  or  proprietary  articles,  or  if  instruments 
are  used  there  on  which  the  surgeons  receive  a  royalty  or  commis- 
sion from  makers  owning  patents  and  controlling  them,  and  if  such 
makers  are  allowed  to  influence  the  appointment  of  operators  at 
clinics.  Are  members  of  the  staff  obliged  to  ask  permission  of  each 
other  for  liberty  to  improve  instruments,  and  can  makers  interfere 
or  prevent  their  doing  so? 

This  is  the  reply : 

Massachusetts  G-eneral  Hospital, 

Boston,  March  11,  1889. 
Dear  Dr.  Meriam, — The  hospital  clinics  are  not  used  to  introduce  medicines 
or  instruments.     No  royalties  are  received  by  our  surgeons.     Members  of  the 
staff  are  not  obliged  to  ask  permission  to  improve  instruments. 

Yours  very  truly, 
John  W.  Pratt,  Resident  Physician. 

And  lastly  I  read,  because  received  last,  this  fi'om  Dr.  Barrett: 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  March  14,  1889. 
Dear  Dr.  Meriam, — I  very  much  regret  that  it  will  be  absolutely  impossible 
for  me  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  New  York  Odontological  Society  on  the 


19th  inst.,  and  to  listen  to  your  paper  upon  "  Professional  Atmosphere  and  Morals," 
for  I  know  it  will  he  an  occasion  of  interest  to  every  one  who  loves  his  calling.  No 
dentist  can  be  indifferent  to  the  subject,  and  it  is  one  upon  which  I  have  bestowed 
much  thought.  Are  we  a  profession  or  are  we  not?  If  we  are  or  desire  to 
he,  our  conduct  must  be  regulated  by  professional  methods.  If  we  are  a  mere 
trade,  the  question  of  professional  ethics  does  not  concern  us,  for  there  is  among 
intelligent  men  a  distinct  line  drawn  between  the  methods  of  conducting  a  pro- 
fession and  those  which  are  proper  to  trade.  The  former  has  to  dispose  of  the 
products  of  his  brain,  while  the  latter  sells  the  work  of  his  or  another's  hands. 
While  both  are  in  one  sense  alike  honorable,  the  world  is  accustomed  to  value  the 
result  of  mental  effort  above  that  of  the  muscles,  and  people  in  trade  are  permitted  a 
license  in  disposing  of  their  wares  that  is  denied  the  professional  man.  The  former 
offers  an  article  that  has  a  definite  commercial  value,  while  the  labors  of  the  latter 
depend  wholly  upon  his  professional  ability,  knowledge,  and  experience.  It  can 
only  be  measured  by  methods  peculiar  to  itself,  and  the  honest  disposal  of  mental 
effort  demands  a  code  of  its  own,  entirely  distinct  from  that  which  governs  com- 
mercial pursuits.  If  a  man  sells  a  manufactured  article  of  inferior  character  he 
is  easily  detected,  and  it  is  possible  to  make  him  amenable  to  a  written  law.  But 
with  the  product  of  men's  brains  no  such  exact  determination  can  be  made,  and 
therefore  each  profession  is  held  accountable  to  an  unwritten  law,  which  it  is  the 
bounden  duty  of  that  profession  to  enforce. 

Among  those  laws  which  are  common  to  all  the  professions  is  that  which  pro- 
hibits advertising,  and  all  the  usual  business  methods  of  trade.  There  must  be  a 
line  of  demarcation  drawn  somewhere,  and  it  is  at  this  point.  The  business 
methods  of  trade  must  not  be  followed  if  one  would  have  a  position  in  a  profession. 

It  is  impossible  to  formulate  a  complete  code  for  the  regulation  of  the  conduct 
of  a  professional  man,  because  professional  conduct  must  be  prompted  by  an 
innate  professional  spirit,  and  what  under  one  condition  might  be  proper,  under 
different  circumstances  becomes  entirely  unprofessional. 

The  fact  that  dentistry  as  practiced  to-day  comprises  so  much  of  mere  handicraft 
and  manual  labor,  makes  it  difficult  always  to  determine  what  is  true  professional 
conduct  with  us,  but  this  we  must  accept  if  we  would  be  classed  with  professional 
men :  whatever  is  peculiar  to  trade  must  be  eliminated.  We  must  cease  to  be 
mere  manufacturers,  ready  to  seize  upon  any  pretext  to  obtain  or  to  control 
patronage  ;  we  must  frown  upon  all  attempts  to  monopolize  methods  and  deprive 
our  brother-practitioners  of  needed  facilities  and  knowledge ;  we  must  forsake  the 
methods  and  ethics  of  trade,  or  we  must  drop  to  its  level.  We  cannot  be  profes- 
sional men  and  tradesmen  at  the  same  time.  We  must  belong  to  either  one  class 
or  the  other.  The  other  professions  cannot  and  will  not,  without  self-destruction, 
acknowledge  a  branch  which  is  not  actuated  by  pure  professional  instincts  and 
feeling,  and  which  does  not  sedulously  strive  to  maintain  a  high  professional 
standing. 

Hoping  that  the  coming  meeting  will  serve  to  make  more  plain  the  line  between 
professional  and  unprofessional  conduct, 

I  am  most  truly  yours,  W.  C.  Barrett. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  heard  it  urged  as  a  reason  for  the  study  of 
medicine  that  it  offered  full  opportunity  for  the  free  development  of 
all  the  qualities  of  the  heart,  hand,  and  brain,  thus  affording  an 
atmosphere  that  would  produce  the  highest  style  of  man.  And  here 
let  me  quote  these  words  on  the  purpose  of  a  nation :     "  For  in  our 


23 

modern  thought  the  nation  is  the  making  place  of  man.  Not  by 
the  traditions  of  its  history,  nor  by  the  splendor  of  its  corporate 
achievements,  nor  by  the  abstract  excellencies  of  its  constitution, 
but  by  its  fitness  to  make  men,  to  beget  and  educate  human 
character,  to  contribute  to  the  complete  humanity,  the  perfect  man 
that  is  to  be,  by  this  alone  each  nation  must  be  judged  to-day.  .  ." 
"  Showus  your  man,  land  cries  to  land." 

As  of  a  nation,  so  also  of  a  profession.  Not  by  our  degrees  and 
titles,  nor  recognition  by  medical  gentlemen  or  medical  associations, 
nor  by  education,  and  a  special  advance  in  any  one  field,  alone,  but 
by  bringing  our  whole  profession  into  the  atmosphere  that  forms 
and  maintains  liberal  professions  of  whatever  name,  so  that  we  too 
can  show  our  man.  "  For  the  real  value"  [of  a  profession  like]  •'  a 
country,  must  be  measured  in  scales  more  delicate  than  the  balance 
of  trade.  .  .  .  "  "  On  a  map  of  the  world  you  can  cover  Judea 
with  your  thumb,  Athens  with  a  finger-tip,  and  neither  of  them  figures 
in  the  '  Price  Current,'  but  they  still  lord  it  in  the  thought  and 
action  of  every  civilized  man." 

No  profession,  however  useful,  can  be  great  or  held  in  honor  that 
does  not  produce  manhood. 

Let  us  be  thankful  that  as  we  take  our  way  with  the  Eubber  Com- 
pany of  odious  memory  behind,  with  the  threatenings  of  the  Tooth 
Crown  Company  before  us,  with  patented  instruments  and  opera- 
tions and  proprietary  materials  and  "  The  Combination"  on  either 
side,  with  Judas  forever  in  our  midst,  that  dentistry  can  answer  when 
called  with  the  name  of  Barnum,  and  I  would  that  every  dental 
school  in  the  country  had  a  tablet  to  his  memory. 

The  minds  of  us  all  rise  at  times  above  the  question  of  the  polish 
of  instruments  or  the  number  of  square  miles  covered  by  show- 
cases, to  consider  in  what  form  we  shall  leave  our  profession  to 
those  who  come  after  us. 

The  Chinese  potter,  as  he  molds  the  clay  prepared  for  him  by  his 
father,  neglects  not  in  intervals  of  his  toil  to  prepare  other  for  the 
son  that  is  to  follow  him.  Let  us  so  mold  what  is  to  be  the  profes- 
sion of  the  future,  by  daily  guarding  the  practice  of  our  profession, 
that  no  future  Templar  landing  on  our  shore  shall  find  the  dentist 
working  with  a  collar  soldered  about  his  neck,  although  of  beautiful 
workmanship  and  nickel-plated,  bearing  on  it  the  inscription, 
"  Wamba,  the  son  of  Witless,  is  the  thrall  of  Cedric  of  Eotherwood." 


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